I don’t always find what I’m looking for on eBay in terms I’d comics. Or if I do sometimes the prices are a bit high for my wallet. Especially given new tax laws for online sales.
When buying back-issues, what other online sources do people use (or not use) and why…both for raw and/or graded books.
I think we all know about midtown and mile high comics…so don’t feel like you have to share those experiences unless you feel passionate about them.
Comiclink and mycomicshop are also likely popular, but still feel free to share pros/cons, but I’m really looking for those not we’ll know online shops.
Any Facebook groups would be appreciated.
I just placed an order through Atomic Avenue…going to try that one out and I’ll report back my experience.
I’ve had bad experiences with amazon. I’d say majority of sellers just throw a comic in an envelope, no bag no board. I had one literally shoved into a box a size too small once!
I think they changed their ways but I bought a few times from them but I stopped when they shipped me a book and it came damaged.
At the time on their website, they had a double standard I pointed out. On their site they stated that no comic shall arrive damaged or they would take care of you. Then in smaller print when you are selecting shipping, if you choose the more affordable option, they claimed they’re not responsible for damages, despite them not packaging it securely.
So when the book arrived damaged, I pointed out on their site they would take care of me. They said I chose the cheaper shipping so I was basically SOL. I thhink it was a week later they updated the site and removed the whole… “We’ll take care of you, no comic arrives damaged”.
I think later on after I wrote about the ordeal on CHU, a representative attempted to win me back by giving me a $25 coupon, I never took them up for that offer… Maybe I’m holding a grudge for too long but by them basically telling me to bugger off as a customer, I swore to never do business with them again and I’ve stuck to my word. The way I was treated is a way I would never treat a customer, particularly one who was trying to be reasonable and just happened to point out they would not honor what they claimed they would honor directly on their website.
To chime in about mycomicshop, they are absolute cancer. Besides their arrogance and rudeness, they sent me damaged comics many many times, and made it hard every time I had to return. One time the box was damaged so they offered to replace, then that Beth got wind of it and cancelled the replacement. Their big line is about how “the graded books WERE technically the same grade, they didn’t meet my standard.” As if corners getting dented leaves a comic still in “fine” condition is okay. Or if it’s in “poor” and someone pissed on it, that’s acceptable because it’s still poor.
But the ultimate was when they deleted me from their site without word or explanation, and then when I made a new account, kept cancelling the order and deleting the account with no word as soon as they saw my name. This got into a pattern where they seemed absolutely childish, and since they were such cowards they never told me not to buy from them anymore, could not send an email saying “we told not to shop here,” as they didn’t. They owed me an explanation, but it seems they wanted to have power over me.
And yet that wasn’t the end- they went so far as to ban FAMILY members who share my last name ordering from them, who had a DIFFERENT credit card under their own name, just due to association. The new manager is Skyler who was behind all this, but I don’t know if she’s still covering for Beth. They are so stupid they don’t realize I could buy from them again anytime with a prepaid credit card under a different name and the game begins again, but I don’t want to give them anymore money at all.
At the end of the day it’s about their ego and how they just wanted to win some childish game above all else, and I had spent thousands there over the years without so much as a thank you and kept countless damaged comics I never brought up. They can’t treat people this way and their arrogance is astounding. I never got a $25 gift certificate and I was willing to shop again, but they had to act like fools. Guess not everything is better in Texas.
I thought it was a pretty pathetic attempt when they offered me money to come back. Maybe because I write for a major comic book site and I was dogging them when I could. Your stories don’t totally surprise me either.
And it’s everything is bigger in Texas, it’s definitely not everything is better…
That is so strange… I have yet to have a problem with MCS after buying quite a bit from them over the past six years or so… So far the only issue I ever had and it really wasn’t much of an issue was I wanted to add to an existing order that was begging processed and they refused so I had to basically pay for shipping again and of course received both packages the same day. Would be nice if they changed that policy.
In recent times, I’ve been using a few FB groups that sell comics and other collectibles alike. I think sellers on FB are more flexible on price than sellers on Ebay.
Other places where I’ve found great deals are charity shops, car boot sales and, of course, comic book markets where I live near in London.
I only tend to use ebay just to determine what prices I should, or should not, be paying at that time.
That doesn’t seem like nothing, it seems like yet another example of them being rude af and cutting off their nose to spite their face, to any customer. With MCS their own ego rules above all, but they can’t just say it and ask people to eat crap nicely. They can’t treat people that way and expect to keep a business afloat.
In regards to My Comic Shop I’ve had similar issues with over grading and damaged books. They always wrapped the books in plastic wrap and oftentimes so tight they caused corner bends and creases. Other than a few instances of shipping damage caused by them while packaging I found most stuff over graded. Color breaking creases and Near Mint don’t go together. I found their customer service rude and not helpful at all.
This was a decade ago and I haven’t ever ordered again. I have heard in the CGC forums that they’ve improved in all areas but I haven’t given them another shot.
Newkadia is another one. I think I ordered from them years ago and don’t recall any issues. I hate running across their stuff on eBay though. They use stock photos which I hate. Checking thousands of barcodes on eBay in my quest for Modern Newsstands can be tedious. When you run across one finally and take a closer look it’s them it’s so exciting. Then I see it’s Newkadia and curse them for getting my hopes up.
I’m personally a fan of Newkadia. You won’t find the latest, hottest books on there, but if you are just looking for varied issues/items you like, etc…their prices and customer service are great.
They also have varied discounts/free shipping, codes that provide free shipping. I’ve never had an issue and their packaging/timeliness is excellent.
You know, sometimes the rotten sour taste lingers and when there are plenty of other apples in the orchard to choose from, one doesn’t seem it necessary to go back. Is it holding a grudge, maybe a little but I also just consider it me forgetting all about them… They didn’t want to spend the extra time on me as a customer so I’m not going to spend an extra minute being their customer.
They did not improve at all. I mean, Beth the manager was and always has been the issue then and now, but if she was indeed replaced it was by an inexperienced person just as rude. They hold on to this petty nastiness, like it’s a job requirement there, and I don’t know why.
Yeah my experience in the past was enough to keep me away for over a decade. I find just about everything I need on eBay and have a local shop or two to fall back on.
I swear by Midtown although I haven’t ordered in a bit from them. It’s not like I didn’t have issues with some of my preorders. Initially I’d gotten shipping damage because of it wasn’t packaged well. They took care of it and I kept the book I had. I then had a series of dinged up books but not from their shipping. They adjusted their shipping and I never had any issues. But this series of damaged preorders was significant. I’m talking at least a dozen books. A simple message and pics and replacements were sent and I kept the ones I had. I remember getting at least 3-4 copies of Grass Kings because each wasn’t up to the advertised grade. They fixed everything and never gave me a hard time and only made me ship one book back. That was Space Riders #1.
Newkadia is a good place to purchase books to finish a collection but yeah, you won’t find many keys or hot books though. Their grading is OK. Not super tight or strict but not awful either.
Yeah, I’ve heard when they buy big collections off people, they got a whole team to dig out all the keys to sell off to shops and dealers, all the leftovers are what’s on their site.
I guess we can call them the “Penny Stocks” of the comic book world…
So, Atomic Avenue was a bust, all things considered. Here’s my experience and what I can share…
So it’s a site with buyers and sellers, and thousand of comics…but none with pictures. The site offers a means to complete transactions, but there are no fees or taxes collected, so it provides a means to buy books without those strings and you can also provide feedback how it went, and obviously review what others say about the seller.
You can contact the sellers too, but there isn’t a way to share photos of the books to confirm what the seller claims the condition to be…at least not directly through the site. But it appears you can share your personal email and maybe that way you can get pictures…I didn’t know this until I had an issue.
The issue was the person shipped the books with very flimsy cardboard (see pics) and it appears the books may have been NM (maybe NM-) before the damage. The seller had a fair amount of history which applauded him on his grading and shipping, so I felt this seller was a good risk to take a chance on.
Unfortunately as you can see in the pics the seller did not do much of anything to protect the books from the rough hands of USPS…and the entire package was flexed down the middle and spine ticks galore…wiping out any chance of NM it had.
Short story long, the seller profusely apologized and offered to refund the amount and I can return the books. So that part is good. Hindsight I should have requested the seller reinforced the package to protect the books just to put the idea in their head “is this enough?” I tend not to push that issue on a seller if I see numerous feedback that a seller ships well…so didn’t feel it was necessary here either. Bleh…
I expect to return the books and get a full refund. If that doesn’t happen I’ll be sure to follow up.
So all in all I think there is some promise with this sight as an alternative to eBay…but proceed with caution and ask for whatever info you can get before making a purchase you have high expectations for.
Ouch! That is really too bad. A press will definitely help those books but I doubt they will ever see NM- again. From the looks of it most if not all have a chance to be pressed to the VF range.
